Following the departure of guitarist Thorbjørn, Norwegian viking metallers HELHEIM have announced that his replacement will be SYRACH guitarist Noralf, who had filled in for his predecessor during the band’s recent European tour.

Thorbjørn’s decision to leave the band was taken after he felt that he wanted to concentrate more on other projects based on 70s metal/rock.

In a statement issued today, drummer Hrymr said, “We are truly sorry that Thorbjørn has decided to leave the band. He has been a central part of Helheim since he joined us in 1999. We owe many fantastic riffs and great ideas to that weird mind of his! Along with Lindheim and others he intends to focus on his project SINKING SEA, and we wish him great success for the future. On a positive note though, we have not had to go through a long process to find his replacement. Noralf is a fantastic guitarist, and he has already played and toured with us, so we know that he is the right person for the band. This will not affect his work with Syrach, and we are very happy he decided to join us permanently; we consider ourselves fortunate to get him.”

Helheim caused a stir recently when they launched their sixth album Kaoskult in a Norwegian Kindergarten, where they played a shortened acoustic set to the children.

Commented Hrymr, “We had absolutely no idea when we set out to do it, that it would have been so positively received world-wide. To us it seemed like a great way to launch Kaoskult by doing something that would teach the new generation about their Norse heritage. It appears to have struck a chord with many, many people on all levels. From fans who wished their own education systems would allow them to explore different types of music, to people who applauded the idea of teaching children about their heritage, and doing it in a way that made it interesting and fun”.

Three tracks from Kaoskult are available for free download on Helheim’s MySpace page .

Below is the video for Helheim’s 'Jernskogen' taken from the album Blod & Ild, which was the first full-length album to feature Thorbjørn.